The 'Longskins' Fading Tobacco Road

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 20 June 2017)


Oktay Keklik does his best impression of Juan Valdez.

In Ödemiş district of Izmir province, tobacco farmer Oktay Keklik
is a member of one of the last families cultivating the crop but he
says that if prices don't rise the tradition will end.  Nevertheless,
according to Keklik, the people of Uzundere, Köfündere and
Orhangazi villages press on with their tobacco farming.


Actually, the resemblance is uncanny...

Keklik explained that in his village of Uzundere, which is twenty
kilometers from Ödemiş, they cultivate tobacco with the knowledge
and techniques passed down from their forefathers.  Their slogan
is "In America there are the Redskins, in Ödemiş we're the Longskins".
(literally: uzundereliler = longskins).


Ödemiş district is in far eastern Izmir province.